The field of this invention relates to a trailer hitch assembly for the towing of a trailer and more particularly to a trailer hitch which is especially adapted to be mounted on the back of a pickup truck close to and located between the rear wheel wells of the truck so that the pickup truck can be used for pulling the trailer.
It has been known to employ the use of a pickup truck to haul a trailer. The most common way is to mount a trailer hitch onto the back bumper of the pickup truck which is then used to haul the trailer. However, with this type of conventional trailer hitch, the gate is not considered safe or feasible to haul a large sized trailer. Therefore, larger sized trailers such as travel trailers cannot be safely hauled in this conventional manner.
It has been also known to locate a trailer hitch latching assembly within the bed of the pickup truck. This trailer hitch latching assembly is to connect with the trailer hitch on the foreward portion of a travel trailer and the resulting combination of truck and trailer has been shortened and the weight more evenly distributed which therefore makes the connection between the truck and the trailer more safe.
The previous trailer hitch latching assembly used within the bed of a pickup truck employs a pair of movable jaws which separate to accommodate the trailer hitch and which would then close together to lock the trailer hitch in position. However, on a rare occasion, it has been known that a trailer hitch could become disengaged from this type of latching assembly. It would be desirable to construct a latching assembly which absolutely precluded any possibility of accidental disengagement of the trailer hitch as obviously a unattached trailer on a roadway is extremely hazardous.